Obama Nominates Sotomayor for the Supreme Court

Earlier today, Barack Obama nominated Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court. The media’s coverage of today’s nomination is strangelyfixated on the fact that Sotomayor is a Hispanic woman, as if skin pigmentation and the absence of a penis are somehow qualifications for the highest court in the land. By that logic, Chris Matthews would eligible for a black robe and gavel the next time he gets a suntan. The judiciary and Sotomayor deserve better news coverage.

That’s not to say Sotomayor is a bad person. Having personally witnessed her hear a case (this one), I can tell you that she is what Obama (and in fairness, most people) would call empathetic. She is a judge who explores how a particular decision would both benefit and burden all parties involved before making a decision that she genuinely sees as fair. The trouble is that she does not seem all that concerned with what the law actually requires. As luck would have it, the case I witnessed was even rightly decided, but I did not get the sense that Sotomayor decided the right way for the right reason.

Empathy may be a great quality in a parent, school headmaster, PTA official, and even a legislator, but it is not relevant to what makes a good judge. Faithfully applying the laws, as written by our democratically elected institutions in accordance with the federal and state constitutions, to the cases and controversies before them is what makes a good judge. Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy, policy attitudes, and general approach indicate that she is not that type of jurist. The best we can hope for is that we may get someone like Sandra Day O’Connor who occasionally reached the right results for the wrong reasons, but I doubt it.

1) People fail to mention that having empathy for the downtrodden is not
a Constitutional requirement in selecting a Supreme Court justice.

2) All the Democrats talk about multiculturalism and “we don’t see skin color” is
absolute crap! It was the Democrats who dragged Miguel Estrada through the
mud when W attempted to nominate him to the DC Appeals Court. Frankly, I
think his story is more compelling than Sotomayor’s. The
Dems should be ashamed of what they did to Estrada (and the Republicans
should be ashamed that they didn’t back him up…should have been a recess
appointment). Lest we forget about what they did to Alberto Gonzalez and
Clarence Thomas. Dems only see color unless it’s someone of their political
persuasion.

Even though they will likely lose, I hope the GOP will put up a fight, but something tells me they don’t have the guts for it.

Two things about her being selected I’ve heard I concur with are…. 1)Reps need to challenge her nomination for showing what she is will show what Obama stands for. 2)Fighting to keep her only stands to harm Reps, for if it isn’t her it will only get worse and worse, and the Reps fighting all of them from getting in ‘could’ give the wrong message.
That said….it doesn’t mean the Reps should not do what is the right thing, no matter what Dumocrats think about it. Dems do wrong things daily, Reps should at least be the party that does it Right from the Right.